Calhoun comes through with clutch Game 3 win, moves on

— The Calhoun Yellow Jackets may have gone into their Class AAA State Tournament first-round series as underdogs, but they left as the last team standing after an 11-4 win in the decisive Game 3 on Saturday.

The Jackets, the No. 4 seed from Region 6-AAA, visited Region 8-AAA champion Morgan County for a doubleheader Friday and came away with a split decision before winning the winner-take-all Game 3 on Saturday.

Calhoun (19-12) now moves on to the second round to face Brantley County in a best-ofthree series that starts with a doubleheader on Thursday. If a Game 3 is necessary, it will be played on Friday.

Calhoun took the first game on Friday over the Bulldogs, 3-1, but Morgan County (26-8) bounced back to win Game 2, 5-1, to force the if-game on Saturday.

Outstanding pitching performances were turned in in both games Friday as all four starters for both units pitched complete games. For the Jackets, Brett Potts won Game 1 with a complete-game effort, and Davis Allen took a toughluck loss in Game 2 after going the distance.

Morgan County’s Ethan Stamps and Hunter Lane made things tough for Calhoun in gutsy performances. Dalton Cole was the Game 3 starter but was haunted by four errors in the fourth inning before giving way to relievers. He pitched well giving up only one earned run on a homer in the second inning.

Game 1 started off pretty well for Morgan County. The Calhoun starter Potts went three up and three down in the first two innings before the Dogs got a two-out single in the third from Cole who was pushed to third on a Jaron Ferguson single and scored on a throwing error by Calhoun’s centerfielder. Lane followed that up with another single, but Ferguson was thrown out at the plate on a very bangbang call that had Morgan’s fans roaring and the coaches fuming. It could have been the play of the game because it ended the rally and an opportunity for the Dogs to score some extra runs in the third.

Stamps held Calhoun to two hits until the fifth when they scored the tying and go-ahead runs on two hits and two walks. The visiting Jackets got an insurance run in the sixth when Allen laced one to the outfield fence followed by a throwing error and a fielder’s choice to score. The Dogs pulled off a beautiful 5-4-3 double play to end the inning. Two of Calhoun’s three runs were unearned.

Offensively for Calhoun, Allen finished with a double, an RBI and a run scored, Ben King added a double and a run scored and Potts had a hit and an RBI. Carson Kemp also had a hit, and Ryan Randall had a stolen base and a run scored.

Morgan County was stifled at the plate all evening by Potts. The lefty only faced 26 batters over seven innings giving up just five hits and one run over that span. He had the Dogs off balance and out in front with his off-speed stuff that he followed up with a sneaky fastball. No Bulldogs batter had more than one hit in the loss.

Morgan County now had their backs against the wall. It was win or go home, and the Dogs came through behind a stellar pitching performance by Lane tying the series up 1-1 in the nightcap. The junior gave up one hit over his first four innings while facing 13 players at the plate (one hitter reached base). The defensive play of the year came from Cole who was playing third in the fourth inning. Calhoun hit a heat seeking missile to his left that Cole dove full out to stab. He turned 360 degrees in pirouette mode to nail the runner at first.

Allen went the distance on the mound for Calhoun and allowed five runs (three earned) on seven hits while striking out three in the loss.

The Dogs’ bats went to work beginning in the second when Cofer led off with a walk, moved to third on Jacob Anderson’s double off the left field fence and scored when Hunter Christian got the sacrifice to the right side.

Morgan scored two more in the third and another in both the sixth and seventh stanzas. Cole walked in the third and scored on a Ferguson double to the right centerfield fence. Lane was not to be outdone as he followed Fergie up with a double of his own to the same spot for the RBI. The Dogs led 3-0 and things were looking good. The sixth inning saw Anderson single up the middle to start things off. He moved to second on a balk and scored on a Trey Patterson single. The final run came with two outs in the top of the seventh. Stamps singled in the hole, took second on a wild pitch, and scored on another throwing error by Calhoun.

Calhoun got something going in the sixth with four straight singles, but only got one run out of it. With the bases loaded, Lane pitched out of the bases-loaded jam by getting out two with a strikeout and a weak grounder to third for the force out. The Dogs ended all hopes for the Yellow Jackets in the seventh with a 4-6-3 double play killer to clinch the 5-1 win.

The Jackets had seven hits in the loss led by Tanner Gallman’s two-hit, RBI day. Randall, Potts, King, Allen and Austin Trammell also had hits.

Calhoun coach Chip Henderson said his team would need to play well on Saturday with their backs against the wall.

“We’ve got to make plays (tomorrow),” said Henderson. “Two good teams are going at it. Game 3 will come down to who is the most focused and makes the fewest mistakes.”

After those results on Friday, it all came down to one game for both teams playing for their season.

Morgan held a comfortable 4-1 lead going into Calhoun’s fourth inning at bat. The Jackets then exploded for five runs in the inning to take the 6-4 lead and four more in the fifth before scoring one more in the sixth to turn the game around. Cole, Ferguson, and Anderson pitched for Morgan, but the mistakes in the field and deep pitching on the mound for Calhoun proved to be the downfall for Morgan County.

Trammell had a huge day offensively in the decisive game with two hits, including a double, and four RBIs. Bryson Davis was also 3-for-4 with a double, an RBI and three runs scored, and Matthew Williams added two hits, including a double, and an RBI. Allen added an RBi on a hit, and Jackson Braden and Gallman also had hits.

Braden was the stopper on the mound as he took the rubber and delivered a huge performance when his team needed it the most to keep their season alive. The senior went all seven innings and gave up four runs (two earned) on seven hits while striking out six.

“There were two heavyweights going at it out there,” said Henderson after the Game 3 win. “We had our gloom and doom time down 4-1, but we were able to manufacture some runs. Braden is a trooper. I told him to give me your best, and he did. We’re fortunate to be moving on.”